image: thrillist.com

My latest for Thrillist.com is now available, titled How to Level Up Food and Wine Pairings.

Is there anything new regarding food and wine matching offered in this piece? Probably not; just about everything that need be said about pairing up food and wine has pretty much been said.

Having said that, the article is chock-full of the tips and tricks that I myself have actually employed over the years when trying to elevate my own food+wine game, so I’m confident that it will be useful to the Thrillist readership (hell, even if casual wine drinkers remember only the very first tip on the list, they’ll have walked away from a hopefully entertaining read with a culinary rule-of-thumb that’ll improve almost any future wine-pairing attempt that they might make).

Anyway, feel free to stop by at heckle me!

Cheers!

1WD reader Robert has written in to yours truly, with an interesting double-barreled challenge. I think that we need the collective wisdom of the insanely-intelligent, hyper-attractive, overly-inebriated, and mega-hyphenated 1WD readership to help this guy. Also, I’m in Champagne this week collecting vinous memories that will make you all jealous, so I could use a little help here as I can’t effectively type with one hand while the other is busy raising glasses of amazing bubbly to my face.

Here’s Robert’s request:

I am brand new to the world of wine, sure I drank my share but now want to get serious in the industry of selling, sampling and the tastings of all types of wine.  I just took on a sales rep position with a small fine wine importer/distributor and want to learn on best ways to succeed. Any advice on what baby steps to take or where to begin as a sales rep would be very much appreciated.

Notice that Robert has a dual challenge here, in that he simultaneously needs to learn the fine wine ropes (primarily, I’m guessing, through tasting, which – lucky for him – has already been touched on in Reader Mailbag form here), and in learning the fine wine sales rep ropes.

Now, I know that there is no shortage of the wine sales rep populace reading 1WD, so I’m asking you folks to help brother Robert!

Shout it out loud in the comments, people: what advice would you give to a newly-minted wine sales rep?

Cheers!

It might not yet be quite hot enough outside for this topic, but the good folks over at Fix.com have published my take on Sangria (that most warm weather of wine-related beverages), complete with their always-on-point graphical talents (which often make the majority of my accompanying words superfluous, but hey, they’re paying so I’m not complaining).

image: Fix.com

Personally, it takes a *mighty* fine Sangria to sway the taste buds of this particular wine lover, but I’m nowhere near snobbish enough not to find enjoyment in a good one. Hopefully, the Fix.com guide will maximize your chances of mixing up a superior Sangria batch, as we provide some tips on what to try (and what to avoid) when utilizing different wine styles as your Summertime liquid fun base material.

The full awesomeness of Fix.com’s Sangria infographic are below after the jump, with the full article available at http://www.fix.com/blog/sangria-for-wine-lovers. Enjoy (responsibly)!

Cheers!

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Just when you think that the topic of wine is starting to make sense and really come together for you, you’ll probably encounter the convention of naming large format wine bottles.

That should put you firmly back in your lowly place, since the convention of naming bottle sizes carries on the storied wine tradition of utilizing differing standards in order to confuse the living hell out of you.

I’ve been “thinking big,” as in large format bottles, since I recently won a 3L bottle of Faust 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet via the Palate Press Wine For Haiti auction.

The bottle is gorgeous (see inset pic).  The trouble is, I don’t know what to call it.

Before we get into that, I should tell you a bit about Faust itself, I suppose.

Faust is the brainchild of Napa legend Agustin Huneeus, who started up Quintessa, owns Veramonte, and had a hand in making other stalwart Napa wines like Franciscan.  It’s a big wine, but balanced and tight as a drum early on due to it’s massive, dark structure.  It’s like the Darth Vader of Napa Cabs, and is (more or less) Quintessa’s more-affordable-but-still-pretty-damned-good “second wine.” Damned-good… Get it?  Faust… damned… Ok, I’ll stop now…

As far as the 2006 goes, it’s 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 3% Malbec, and 1% Cabernet Franc – all from Agustin’s family vineyards in Rutherford and Atlas Peak.  As far as Hunees goes, according to the Faust website, “He also believes that numerical ratings, as they are used today, are an aberration.”  Strong words.

Interestingly (as far as the bottle size discussion goes), I first tried this Faust vintage (via sample) in a 375 ml half-bottle.  I’ve yet to have the wine from a “normal” 750 ml.

Anyway, on to the good and the ugly of this situation…

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